Being sick sucks

Yeah, welcome to winter...

I picked up a nasty cough/sore throat from my little brother who doesn't think he needs to wear a coat the four-block walk to school.  I've also been cleaning our dining room from top to bottom and kicking up some dust, which I'm allergic to.  So, I'm having sinus issues on top of my throat.

I hope I'm feeling better tomorrow so work doesn't suck too bad...  We shall see, though.  I'm keeping myself wrapped up in a blanket and taking it easy, today.

Bluurrrrrghh...

It's bigger on the inside!

Well, I finished one of my crochet projects!  Here is the TARDIS hat:

I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt!

I used the "Oy Space Man" pattern I found on Ravelry.  The pattern called for a darker, more worn-looking blue to match the classic old TARDIS, but I went with a newer, more vivid shade which more closely resembles the current TARDIS.  I just liked the brighter blue better, anyway.

And I couldn't find any button that was "steampunk" like the pattern calls for, but I did find some swirly little buttons that reminded me a lot of the seal of Rasillon:

Not an exact match, but close enough

The first attempt I made with the smaller size, so I decided to give it to my baby brother.  Here's a picture of him modeling it:

Back to the crocheting!

Yarn love

One of my friends is pregnant (with a girl!  First of my friends to not have a boy!), and I offered to make her blankets and clothes since I'm pretty proficient at crocheting.  Well, that offer has opened up a rabbit hole...

I've rediscovered my love of crocheting and all things yarn.  I learned to crochet when I was nine years old, so I've been doing it about 15 years, now.  I do know how to knit simple things like scarves, but I've only been at it off and on for the last six years.  I can't do anything more than basic knitting and purling.  Crochet is where I'm most comfortable.

I started this big adventure by buying a book of baby blanket patterns.  I'm currently working on one of the patterns, now.  Then, I started looking up patterns on the internet for various baby clothing items.  I'm about 40% of the way through a cute little, pink sweater.

And then, yesterday, I dove into the deep end.  I joined Ravelry!  My username is StrudelDoodle, if you'd like to come looking for me.  After signing up, there, I now have a full arsenal of patterns I will start working on once I finish up the other two.

Unfortunately, I've added a personal project on top of the other two.  I'm making a hat that looks like the TARDIS from Doctor Who.  I couldn't help it; the Whovian in me demanded it.  It took a little bit to figure out the different rounds, but I think I've got it, now!  I can't wait to finish it up!

I'll post in progress pictures soon, and, of course, pictures of the finished products!

Farewell, November

The clock just struck 12:00 midnight.  It's now officially December 1st and NaNoWriMo is over.

I know I didn't keep up with the updates here, but November turned out to be quite the crazy month.  Situations at work, family stuff, and trying to write a 50,000 word novel made for a hectic and sometimes stressful 30 days.

But as for my first NaNo, it was a pretty fun experience!

Final word count: 36,000 words.  14,000 words shy of the goal.

I had a feeling I wasn't going to make it, but heading into the last week, I had it figured that I could pull out 3,000 a day plus two 5,000 word days.  It didn't happen and it got to be that I would've needed 7,000 a day to finish in time.

I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to hit the goal.  Especially when I start browsing the site and I see lots of people with the little purple winner bars.  Then I look at what I've written so far and it lessens the pain some. I did write 36,000 words.

Let me say that to myself again:
I wrote 36,000 words.

I know I've never written that many words for one story/paper.  Even though I can't claim the win, I don't count this as a loss.  Without NaNoWriMo, I wouldn't have had the motivation to put this passing idea on paper.  And I wrote nearly 75% of a novel out of that idea.  So, I'm calling this a 'non-win'.  As a Cubs fan, the same end-of-the-season mantra applies:  There's always next year!

My plans now that it's December?
Well, I go back to what I was doing before:  watching Classic Doctor Who (currently on the Second Doctor!), crocheting, and reading.  As if I haven't challenged myself enough over the last month, the first book on my reading list is Anna Karenina.

I will try to keep up more, here.  And I'll let you know if I decide to do Camp NaNoWriMo in the summer!

*_*

Early Highs and Lows

Ugh...

The first two days of NaNo have come with mixed results.  Day 1 started off with about 500 words from my midnight session.  I managed to work out another 300 on my  lunch break, but felt stuck after that.  Most of the afternoon and evening went by without much progress.  I was already feeling discouraged.  At 8:30, however, I gulped down an Amp energy drink, sat down in front of the computer and pounded out nearly 1,000 words in two and a half hours!

I felt so accomplished!

Then, Day 2.  I had the entire day off, and I got started on writing about noon.  Yeah, I only wrote about 650 words all day.  Didn't help that I went over to my friend's apartment for a while, but you know what?  I need a social life, sometimes!

So here we are on Day 3.  I have another day off, and I'm determined to not only get back on track, but to get myself ahead so I'm not always playing catch-up.  I've put the word out to some local wrimos for an impromptu write-in.  Maybe that'll get my motivation in high gear.

Off to Word!

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Well, here we are.  November 1, 2012.  The beginning of probably the most challenging month of my life.

Here's a quick video I made for Day 1 (not saying I'm doing this everyday, just thought it momentous enough to make a video).  Sorry for the quality; I only have the webcam that came equipped with my laptop and I did not realize how much I fidget...

Hitting the reset button

Since it's been over a year and a half since I last posted here, I decided to pretty much start over with the blog.  It was nice to read back through some of those old posts, but I feel it's time for a fresh start.

So, here we go!

One of the big reasons I wanted to restart my blog is because I'm going to need an stress/venting outlet.  I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, this year.  What is NaNoWriMo, you ask?  Well, let me explain!
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it is thirty day and nights of literary abandon!  The goal is to write a novel of at 50,000 words over the month of November.  It sounded interesting and challenging, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I know it will be stressful to hit my daily word count while working a full-time job, so this will be my venting space.  Don't worry, it won't all be negative.  I might write a happy, little post to put me in a better mood after writing and working all day.  And I promise to stick around after November, too!

So enjoy, I guess!